Disc/Belt Sander

[Willworkfortools]

This is a two-part project. About 40 years ago, my late dad, who was a tool and die maker, built this disc-belt sander out of material that he dug out of the scrap bin at his place of work. The sander itself worked fine, but it was mounted on a kind of shaky stand because I think he was in a hurry to use it and just never got around to upgrading it. The original motor was a 1/3 HP behemoth that looked like it could have been hand-wound by Nikola Tesla himself. A few years ago, the motor burned up (literally caught fire) and I just put the whole thing aside until I retired and had time to deal with it. I finally decided the time had come because I needed the sander badly to make Shaker oval boxes and carriers. I was able to find a new 1 HP, 1750 rpm motor that was about a third of the size of the old one! I also removed the rickety legs and built a very solid base out of 4x4 and 2x4 lumber. Finally, I added a Harbor Freight mobile tool base using square tubular steel for the stringers in order to allow me to move it around in my small shop. I do still have to add a dust collection hood to it, because it can produce an enormous amount of dust! It is once again working very well. I hated to just toss the old legs because they reminded me of my dad and all that he taught me, so I took the three Hemlock legs and milled them down into vertical supports for a thread rack for my quilter wife. It came out great and the old wood is still around for a second lifetime.